


Cigarette Daydreams

by hondakinky



Category: Homestuck
Genre: F/F, F/M, Humanstuck, M/M, porn star amporas
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-01-13
Updated: 2015-04-06
Packaged: 2018-03-07 09:24:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,866
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3169721
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hondakinky/pseuds/hondakinky
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cronus Ampora wanted to be famous, successful, and surrounded by women.<br/>Then he fell in love with the dorky boy at the bakery.</p>
<p>cronkri companion fic for Heart's A Mess</p>
<p>loosely based off the song "Cigarette Daydreams" by Cage the Elephant</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

He was completely alone. Not physically, of course. But he was single, as he had been for his whole life. All he ever wanted was to find someone. However, he had a very bad habit of not being able to show his emotions, and he often came off as douchey. Of course, there were other reasons he came off as douchey, given he had to act like one nearly every day at work.

“Cronus, I said go harder.”

Cronus snapped out of his self-pitying thoughts and looked down at the girl in front of him. She was on her hands and knees, and he was holding her hair tightly, pounding into her. He listened to her orders, trying not to show that he wasn’t paying attention to her at all.

Since he turned eighteen, he’d been working for his father’s porn industry. He was currently their leading man, and it was honestly something he was proud of. He wasn’t ashamed of being a porn star. It got him popularity. It got him pretty much everything he wanted except the one thing he wanted the most. Chicks. Dudes. Anyone really.

Cronus wanted to be a musician. That was his original plan. He knew up listening to music almost constantly, and he began playing it early on. His favorite instrument was the guitar, but he also played bass guitar, piano, and drums. In fact, Cronus was eager to get this movie over with so he could go home and finish the recording process of his CD.  
Yes, Cronus Ampora wanted to hurry up and finishing fucking this girl to get home to his guitar.


	2. Did You Stand There All Alone?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cronus is awkward.

“Cronus, get back here and apologize for that!”

Cronus sighed and turned around. “Sorry, Tuna. You know I didn’t mean it like that.”

“Like what?”

“I didn’t mean to say, you know, the ‘r’ word so casually.”

“What ‘r’ word?” Mituna frowned.

Cronus looked up at Latula, who was absolutely fuming.

“Never mind, Tuna. I’m sorry for hurting Latula’s feelings.”

“You hurt her feelings?” It wasn’t a confused question; it was more of a threat.

“I didn’t mean to.” Cronus crossed his arms. “I said something on accident.”

“Good thing Vantas isn’t here, right Tula?” Mituna looked back at her.

Latula smiled weakly at him. “Right. Good thing he and Cronus don’t know each other. Cronus would be dead right now.”

Mituna looked back at Cronus. “You’d be sooooooooo dead. He’d rip you to shreds.”

Cronus was a little worried at this point. “I think I’d really rather not meet him then.”

Meenah sat back down beside Cronus. “Sorry. My sister called. She wanted something for my mom that your brother is wearing.”

Latula raised an eyebrow.

“It’s March. March is his month to dress like a girl according to Dualscar.”

“Why don’t you call him dad?” Latula frowned.

“I just don’t.” Cronus shrugged. “I always just called him Dualscar. It’s his porn name. It only made sense to me to call him that.”

“I call her mom, not whatever her name is.” Meenah looked at Latula. “But I also do say Dualscar. I don’t think he ever told me his real name, but I know it.”

“I know it too, but I just prefer to call him Dualscar. Or dad.” Cronus shrugged. “I haven’t done any movies with him in it yet, but he keeps telling me we’ll work together soon. I really do hope it is soon.”

“Ew, you want to-” Latula started.

“No, it’s not like that. Preferably it would be us taking on some woman, or maybe two women. I don’t know.” Cronus looked at her. “I don’t really mind.”

“That’s still gross.” Mituna frowned.

“You’re gross.” Cronus teased, not trying to be mean.

“Is it because I’m-” Mituna paused, getting out of his seat enough to lean across the table and get up in Cronus’ face, as if he didn’t know how to go on. “I’m….um….”

Latula ran her fingers through Mituna’s hair to try to soothe him, and it seemed to work for a while before he snapped again.

“Retarded! Is it because I’m ‘retarded?’” Mituna said the last word as if it were an insult.

Cronus frowned. “Tuna, you know I didn’t mean it like that. If Meenah had said it was gross, I would’ve called her gross too.”

Latula sighed, pulling Mituna back into his seat. “Calm down, sweetheart. He didn’t mean it like that.”

Mituna sat back down, now calm again. He grabbed Latula’s hand and pressed a kiss to her cheek. It was a seemingly normal action, but Cronus knew it meant a lot to them due to Mituna’s status.

Even before his accident, Cronus thought Latula was way out of Mituna’s league. She was popular, pretty, smart,  and athletic. Mituna was incredibly smart before the accident. He was a whiz at anything technological, but he could also do tricks like no other on his skateboard. He fit the skater bill. With his thick, shaggy hair and slight slouch, he was perfect. Cronus had expressed a small amount of interest in him, though mostly as friends. However, he was only ever allowed to go to Mituna’s house given that they ran a porn company at home.

Cronus was afraid of driving simply because of what happened to Mituna. He’d been barreled over by a large cement truck, nearly killed him.

When the accident happened, Cronus was one of the first to hear about it. By some miracle, Mituna and his younger brother - who Cronus barely knew - survived. Mituna’s brother, whose name Cronus understood to be Sollux, came out with several scars, but the only main damage done was a shard of glass piercing his eye. The white part of the eye was now permanently stained a tinted blood red, and all his sight was gone from that eye.

While losing sight in one eye seemed dramatic, it wasn’t nearly as bad as what happened to Mituna. Mituna was thrown about the car, hitting his head against the window, the steering wheel, the cement and the roof of the car after it was flipped,  and finally, the airbag, which came out too late.

It did permanent damage to Mituna’s brain. Occasionally, Mituna would be like his old self, but it would only last a few seconds. Cronus wasn’t even sure if Mituna was fully aware of what was going on inside his head.

Because he felt so bad, Cronus planned a cover of the song "Airbag," including lyrics like "back to save the universe" and "I'm amazed that I survived." He felt as if he owed him something, so he decided to put the cover on his first album, which he was almost done creating.

“Cronus and I should probably go now.” Meenah stood up with a sigh. “But it was nice catching up.”

Latula nodded. “We ought to leave as well. Mituna has a house guest coming to stay with them that I need to help get them ready for.”

Mituna nodded. “His dad was friends with my dad.”

Cronus smiled at him. “I hope he likes you, though I don’t see why he wouldn’t.”

“I have a girlfriend. That’s gross.” Mituna made a face.

“You know what I meant, Tuna. I meant I hope you two get along.”

Latula rolled her eyes. “I think Rezi is supposed to come help too, though I’m not entirely sure how she’ll help.”

“Isn’t her surgery soon?” Meenah grinned. “My girlfriend is supposed to be doing the surgery.”

“Yeah, it’s in a month or so, and she’s really anxious.” Latula smiled. “I was supposed to have surgery too, but it wasn’t as big of a problem as hers, so I let her have the surgery and saved mom some money. I don’t really mind not being able to smell. It’s no big deal to me.”

“I’m excited about it. Aranea’s really good with her patients. She’s in good hands. Trust me.”

“I sure hope so.” Latula smiled at her. “Thanks, Meenah.”

The four parted ways, and Cronus and Meenah returned back home for work.

* * *

 

She was crying. He’d never seen her cry, and he always thought he’d never see her cry. But here she was, curled up in his arms, sobbing her eyes out. Her odd shaped glasses dug into Cronus’ leg as she cried in his lap. Eventually, she looked up at him through now dripping lashes and sighed.

“I’m sorry, Cronus.”

Cronus wasn’t sure he ever heard her apologize.

“For what?”

“For ruining your pants and possibly your night.” Meenah sniffled, wiping her nose.

Cronus noticed that his pants were covered in smudges of black and pink from her make up and lipstick, but he didn’t mind because he knew it was good for their relationship in the long run.

“It’s okay, Meenah.” Cronus shook his head. “Don’t feel bad about it. You’re upset and I should be the one to help you as your brother.”

“You know, technically we aren’t related anymore.”

“You know, technically we are because no divorce papers.”

“Yeah, but they’re practically divorced.”

“Yeah, but-” Cronus was caught off by Meenah putting her finger to his lips.

“Shhhhh.” She smiled. “Be quiet.”

Meenah got up, mumbling something about taking her make up off, and went to the bathroom. Cronus assumed she was doing what she claimed to be doing, though he didn’t want to invade her privacy and check.

He honestly wasn’t in the mood to bicker, but he knew that it would take Meenah’s mind off whatever had happened. He didn’t plan on asking her what was wrong, but he was curious, as anyone would be. He wondered who exactly this person was who made Meenah question her previous seemingly high confidence levels, and bring her to this.

Meenah returned a few minutes later, and Cronus still thought she looked beautiful. He wasn't into her that way, but he did believe that she was very pretty.

“Do you want to sing something?” Cronus asked her when she sat back down on the bed. “I've been working on a song, and I wanted to know if you’d sing it for me - just to see how it sounds.”

Of course, the lyrics were from a guy to a girl, but he didn’t think she’d mind that much, so he handed her the paper after she agreed. He grabbed his guitar and tuned it quickly before beginning to play. He cued her when to come in, and she sang for him.

They sang together, and eventually, Meenah looked happy again. After going through that song, they began another. It wasn't one that Cronus wrote. Rather, they sang cheesy songs that they used to make fun of. Then, it became cheesy love songs, and - eventually - Careless Whisper in about five different keys.

They went through all kinds of genres, singing some of the dumbest songs they could think of together. The had a good time just teasing each other and making fun of dumb songs.

“Aranea left me.” Meenah said softly after Cronus put his guitar away.

He looked up at her. “Oh.”

“I don’t mean to put you after her like this or say that you’re my second choice, but I planned on going to my sister first.” Meenah sighed. “She came to me, though. We met in the hallway, both going to find the other for the same reason. Sollux dumped her, and Aranea dumped me. So we decided it wasn't smart to console in each other, so we went for you and Eridan.”

“I’m not offended. I’m sure she can handle break ups better than me because she’s a girl and knows what you’re going through. You know, as a girl.” Cronus shrugged. “But I’ll help you anyway I can. Though I’m not quite sure how exactly I’ll be able to help you.”

“I guess I just need support.” Meenah looked at him. “Or someone to clear my head.”

“Well, singing seemed to make you a lot happier.”

“Yeah….but that’s because we sang dumb songs. That love song you wrote was really good, but it did bring back some feelings.”

Cronus frowned. “Sorry. I didn't know that.”

“It’s alright. It’s not your fault. You didn't know.” She shook her head. “Don’t feel bad about it.”

“Are you sure?”  
“Positive.” She nodded.

Cronus stayed with her for the rest of the night in an attempt to console her. He hoped it would work, but he wasn’t sure if it had. He wanted it to work, though. He wanted to be closer to her while also making her feel better. He wanted them to become good friends quickly.

* * *

 

The next day, Cronus began recording another song. He had written about ten songs, but he wanted to have at least thirteen on his album. He hoped that he’d find someone or something to write about soon. He needed more inspiration that he didn’t have. Writing was fine without something to base it off of, but it was made much easier when there was something that caused inspiration. He loved writing songs. But for this one, he needed another singer.

“Meenah, are you busy?” He knocked on her door.

She opened the door, pushing her braids back. “No. Why? Do you need me?”

“Yeah.” Cronus nodded. “I’d….I’d like it if you sang a song for me. With me. For my album.”

“Oh.” She nodded. “Sure. Sounds fun. Which song.”

“Preferably that one I had you sing last night.”

“Alright.” She shrugged.

“I mean….Unless it makes you feel upset again. About her. Then we don’t have to do it.”

“No, I want to. Let’s do it.” She smiled.

“Are you sure?”

“Positive. Yeah. Let’s sing.”

Cronus nodded, leading her down the stairs to the basement, where his recording studio was. He had several guitars, a keyboard, a drum kit, and a bass guitar. It was his home. He was down there most of the time he wasn’t filming.

While Meenah warmed up for singing and practiced the song, he worked on his website. When he released his album, he was going to put a few free singles on the website, and have the rest of the album available for a reasonable price. He was excited about releasing the album. He planned on doing it soon. He already had a few samples up online, but the website looked very unprofessional, so he wanted to fix it.

Finally, when he was done, he turned to Meenah. She smiled at him, putting the headphones on. Cronus had already recorded the music a few days before, so it was ready. She knew her cues and nailed them.

When she was done, they listened to it a few times before making some slight changes. They worked together all day on that song, and Cronus was proud of it in the end. He was glad that they had done it together.

He uploaded it to the website as one of the free singles, incredibly proud.

He was surprised when he woke up to it the next morning.

His alarm was set on radio.


	3. I Can See You Standing Next To Me

Cronus was out with Meenah when he saw him. They were at the mall, looking for something embarrassing to make Eridan wear, as it was their favorite thing to do together. However, the bright flash of red caught his eye as they walked into a lingerie store.

The boy couldn’t have been older than Cronus, and he looked nervous. Following Meenah around to casually get a better angle of the boy, Cronus discovered that he was gorgeous. It was almost a movie moment, and the unlit cigarette nearly fell from Cronus’s mouth.

He had perfectly tanned skin and warm brown hair that was made up entirely of thick curls. His eyes were brown as well, and when they met Cronus’s, they looked away immediately, his face turning a bright red. Cronus, being confident in his abilities to flirt and not get rejected - though there wasn’t anything to back that up -, sat down beside the boy.

“Hey, chief.”

“Kankri.” The boy looked at his lap.

“Excuse me?” Cronus frowned.

“My name is Kankri.” He mumbled.

“Oh.” Cronus nodded. “I’m-”

“I know who you are.” The boy’s cheeks turned almost as red as his sweater.

“You do?” Cronus grinned.

He nodded. “You’re Cronus Ampora.”

“I’m glad you recognized me.” Cronus chuckled. “So, what are you doing here, doll?”

“My name is Kankri.” He repeated. “And I’m here with my friend.”

“Oh, that’s-”

“Kankri, get away from him.”

Cronus frowned, looking up. “Porrim?”

“Leave Kankri alone.” Porrim set her hands on her hips.

Cronus stared at her. She had on a lacy black and green lingerie, and Cronus was seriously very impressed by it.

“How does this look, Kanny?” Porrim turned to face Kankri.

“Beautiful.”

“Fuckable.” Cronus grinned.

“I didn’t ask you.” Porrim turned, heading back into the changing room. “So be quiet and leave-”

“I cannot believe you just said that.” Kankri stared at Cronus.

Uh-oh.

“How dare you….” Kankri frowned, crossing his arms. “Women are not objects and you absolutely should not be treating any of them like that, even if they have an occupation like Porrim. In fact, you have the very same occupation, so why should you not be subjugated to rude comments like that? How would you like it if I called you that term?”

Cronus smiled lazily. “I would love it.”

Kankri sighed. “You missed the point. What I’m trying to say is-”

“What do you say to a date, chief?”

Kankri blinked. “Excuse me?”

“A date. You and me. Dinner. And my bed.”

“I’m not interested.”  
“Come on, you have to be into guys. You just looked at Porrim wearing next to nothing and didn’t even pop a boner.”

“I’m not interested.”

“Look, Kankri, was it? Chief-”

“I don’t like men or women.” Kankri closed his eyes. “Please leave me alone.”

Cronus looked at him. He looked like he might start crying at any minute.

“I….I don’t know what overcame me.” Cronus shook his head.

Kankri just stared at the ground. “I thought you were amazing. I thought you were that guy in ‘Love Me Do.’ But apparently you’re not.”

“You watch my movies?” Cronus frowned.

‘Love Me Do’ was a movie Cronus often forgot about. It was an old video of him and Damara, and it involved them being romantic as opposed to mostly sexual. They were a couple reunited after a long time of being apart. It received mixed reviews, and Cronus never thought about it much. He did get to name it, and he named it after a Beatles song.

“I do.” Kankri wiped his nose with his sleeve.

“I thought you said you didn’t like men or women.”

“I don’t, but sometimes you have to let it out.” Kankri sniffled.

“Please don’t cry.” Cronus frowned. “I’ll do whatever it takes to keep you from crying. Someone as cute as you shouldn’t be crying.”

Kankri shook his head. “I’ll be fine.”

“I’m really sorry.” Cronus looked at him. “What about dinner?”

“What about it?”

“Would you like to go?”

Kankri blushed. “Are you going to objectify me like you did Porrim?”

“I was only making a joke.” Cronus frowned.

“But it was an offensive one.”

“I know, and I’m sorry chief. It won’t happen again.”

“My name is-”

“I know your name, Kankri.” Cronus smiled weakly. “You’re really out of the loop, aren’t you?”

Kankri opened his mouth to speak, but Cronus shook his head.

“Never mind. Forget I said that.” Cronus sighed. “I was just expressin’ interest in you. That’s all.”

Kankri looked down at his lap. “I don’t know….I don’t really go on dates.”

Cronus nodded. “I understand. Maybe we could just be friends then? What do you say to that?”

“As long as you don’t try anything funny….” Kankri glanced up at him.

“I won’t.” He ruffled Kankri’s hair.

“Please don’t touch me.” Kankri frowned.

“I….Okay.” Cronus moved his hand back away from Kankri. “Sorry.”

“It’s alright. You didn’t know my boundaries.”

Cronus hesitated. “What exactly….are your boundaries?”

He sat there for another fifteen minutes listening to Kankri talk about his boundaries. But he didn’t mind listening to him. He was thinking of some sort of attack plan for getting Kankri as a partner, but, given Kankri’s many boundaries, it didn’t seem very likely.

Cronus looked at Kankri, pulling out a receipt he had from lunch. He scribbled his phone number on it and handed it to him. “Call me, okay?” He said with a smile.

“Um….sure.” Kankri blushed, pocketing the paper after folding it up neatly.

“I’ll see you later.” He waved, following Meenah out.

* * *

Cronus got a call a few days later when he was at home. He was surprised that it had taken Kankri that long, but he didn’t hesitate to answer.

“Hello?”

“Is this Cronus?”

“Yeah.” He smiled. “Kankri?”

“Yeah.” His voice was soft. “Look, I’m going to have to go pretty soon, but I thought I’d call you now just so you can have my number.”

“Great. Thanks, Kankri.” He smiled. “So, do you think we could hang out at all tomorrow?”

There was a bit of a pause. “Cronus, I’m in California.”

“What?” Cronus frowned.

“I go to college here.” He replied softly. “Sorry.”

“There’s no need to be sorry.” He shook his head. “Don’t be sorry. You go to college, and that’s awesome.”

“Do you not?”

“Well….” Cronus bit his lip. “No.”

“Oh. Okay.” Kankri replied.

“I’m twenty-four.”

“Oh, well, did you go to college?”

“No.” Cronus felt extremely embarrassed by this now.

“That’s okay.”

“Really?”

“Of course it is.” He nodded. “I don’t see anything wrong with it.” Kankri answered. “I mean, it might set you back in life under certain circumstances, but if you can overcome those obstacles, you’ll be good.”

“I don’t think there will be those kind of obstacles in the porn industry, chief.”

“It’s Ka-”

“Kankri, please, I know your name. It’s just a nickname.” Cronus frowned. “Relax, okay?”

“Sorry.” Kankri mumbled. “I didn’t mean to get upset.”

“It’s alright. Don’t feel bad.” He shook his head. “So….why were you here in New York?”

“My brother moved in with a friend for college, and I was helping him.”

“Oh, cool. Who’s your brother?”

“Karkat Vantas.” He replied.

“Karkat….I’ve heard that name before.”

“He’s that punk who bitched at me outside Sollux’s house!” Eridan yelled from the other room.

“Please tell whoever yelled that to watch their mouth. That….term he used is offensive.” Kankri sighed.

“Eridan, Kankri says watch your mouth!”

“Who’s that? Your latest boy toy?” Eridan yelled back.

“Eri….I never had a boy toy.” He frowned, saying it more for Kankri to hear than for Eridan.

Kankri was quiet.

“He didn’t mean it. I don’t have boy toys.” Cronus explained.

“I believe you. You only engage in sexual activities  with girls.” Kankri responded.

“I, er, yeah….” Cronus nodded. “Anyway, when will you be back here?”

“Probably over Christmas.”

“Well, I hope to see you soon.” He smiled weakly.

“I’ll call you again soon. I promise.” Kankri replied.

“Thank you. I can’t wait to hear from you.”

“Until then, Cronus.”

The line went dead.


End file.
